How to build a common national culture for Canada beyond legal culture?

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
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Ottawa, ON
Now and then a thread will start, based on the premise that the local culture of the poster represents the whole of Canadian culture, unaware of just how diverse this country really is.

Granted we can't blame them entirely seeing that our country is geographically huge after all.

To me, this assumption of local culture representing national culture tells me that there is a desire out there for a national culture beyond just a legal culture. We want to have more in common with our compatriots than the law and a common passport and citizenship. Or do we? I don't know the answer and so will throw it out.

I'd considered creating a poll, but the number of questions would just be too great. So maybe I'll create a related poll in another thread later.

For now though, I'd like to ask some questions.

Desire for a common culture

Do you desire a common culture for Canada beyond a strictly legal one?

And if so, then

How to build a common Canadian cultural foundation?

1. Language

Should Canada adopt, revise, or create a language to serve as a common official language for all Canadians?

And if so, ought it to be taught in all schools across Canada as a common first language or common second language?

If so, should the language chosen be one of Canada's current official language or a completely new one? If not possible, then would it be preferable for Canada to separate among linguistic lines so as to alow each part to develop a common culture of its own, possibly by rebuilding its historical cultural ties each with its respective mother-country?

2. Religion

What kind of common religious culture ought Canada to have, if any? Should we have a common official religion like the UK has, keep privileges for certain religious groups as laid out in the BNA Act, have certain official statutory holidays inspired by religion, require students in school to learn about the official religion in school, or government and religion completely separate?

3. Other cultural norms

Are there other kinds of cultural norms that ought to be developed as part of a common culture shared among all Canadians, and to what degree?

Personally, I don't care too much in any direction, but seeing that there is always talk of 'Canadian culture' beyond its legal culture, I get the impression that some have a false notion that Canada does have a common culture beyond its legal one or wishes or hopes to have one. Others might not mind the diverse ethnic cultures of the land held together by nothing more than a common legal culture.

But since this notion of a common Canadian culture beyond the legal comes up often enough, I decided to start this thread as a chance to discuss whether we ought to develop a more solid common cultural foundation or not, and if so, how, to what degree, and what it would entail.

Go ahead, speak your minds.
 

Gilgamesh

Council Member
Nov 15, 2014
1,112
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Cultures evolve organically.

No sane person would trust a government which as we see from Ottawas long term project to foster multiculturalism (whatever the f*ck that may be, is a money wasting big sack of rubbish.
 

Hoid

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 15, 2017
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Canada has laws, but I don't see then constituting a culture.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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Our politicians everywhere have developed a culture of stealing from citizens to make monuments to themselves instead of serving in the taxpayer's best interest.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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It's all in your heads. You or I can hop on an airplane, fly right across the country for 4000 miles, get off and immediately find locals who have all the same values as you do, speak the same dialect of English as you do. In short they have the same culture as you do. There is almost nowhere else on Earth like that (maybe Russia). The USA sure as hell isn't like that. Why you think you see and hear someone different at the other end is because of your (or our) bigotted populist politicians who have artificially created "us and them" for their own shady political gains. Canada is one of the most culturally homogenous places on Earth, excepting Quebec but if you know more about that place, you would find out that they share most Canadian values, as well.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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There will never be a Canadian identity or culture until we quit promoting the multicultural disaster.

It's all in your heads. You or I can hop on an airplane, fly right across the country for 4000 miles, get off and immediately find locals who have all the same values as you do, speak the same dialect of English as you do. In short they have the same culture as you do. There is almost nowhere else on Earth like that (maybe Russia). The USA sure as hell isn't like that. Why you think you see and hear someone different at the other end is because of your (or our) bigotted populist politicians who have artificially created "us and them" for their own shady political gains. Canada is one of the most culturally homogenous places on Earth, excepting Quebec but if you know more about that place, you would find out that they share most Canadian values, as well.

Never been to BC yet have you?
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
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Nakusp, BC
Culture is not your friend.

 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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There will never be a Canadian identity or culture until we quit promoting the multicultural disaster.



Never been to BC yet have you?

I have spent long periods of my life in BC. My parents retired there, even. I have a LOT of relatives there, too.

The base culture of BC is EXACTLY the same as that of Ontario. You've just been taught how to hate. The two places are so close together that outsiders to this country would not be able to tell them apart (except for the physiography around the cities, themselves). Try flying from New York City to LA, though ...
 
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Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
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Eagle Creek
I was born and raised in Saskatchewan. I have spent differing periods of time in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba and currently reside in BC. I have traveled to Quebec and spent time in Yukon. I have yet to visit the Maritimes or Nunavut but know in my heart that there as well as every other place I have been, I will find myself at home.

A poster in another thread wrote that oil was our most prized resource. It isn't. Canadians are, and all it takes is a tragedy like the Humboldt Bronco crash to remind us of that, and of our collective basic decency.

That's a good enough culture for me.
 

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
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I was born and raised in Saskatchewan. I have spent differing periods of time in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba and currently reside in BC. I have traveled to Quebec and spent time in Yukon. I have yet to visit the Maritimes or Nunavut but know in my heart that there as well as every other place I have been, I will find myself at home.

A poster in another thread wrote that oil was our most prized resource. It isn't. Canadians are, and all it takes is a tragedy like the Humboldt Bronco crash to remind us of that, and of our collective basic decency.

That's a good enough culture for me.

By the way, I've been told that I speak with a "Saskatchewan accent" ... whatever that is. My father was from Saskatchewan so I conclude that I learned how to talk from him. I sure didn't from my mother who has a rural (but educated) south-south of Ontario accent with bits and snippets of Upstate New York pronunciations mixed in (presumeably going back 200 years).